1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a splice case for encapsulating a substrate, especially splices between electrical conductors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is often desirable to protect substrates from environmental effects such as moisture, a typical example being the protection of a splice between first and second electrical conductors from either water or moisture in air. There are several known methods of protecting substrates, and in particular, electrical conductors, and more particularly, splices between electrical conductors. Such methods include the use of greases and gels surrounding the electrical conductors and the splices. A typical problem with greases is that they lack virtually any three-dimensional structure and hence no elongation and accordingly the greases oftentimes tend to flow from the area in which they are intended to environmentally protect, especially when subjected to external forces. Though gels, as more particularly described herein, have a three-dimensional network resulting in finite elongation properties which tends to maintain the gel in contact with the substrate being protected even when the gel is placed under an external load, oftentimes sufficient contact between the substrate being protected and the gel is not maintained over time due to dynamic changes which may occur. Such changes include changes in container sizes utilized to hold the gel due to material creep, changes in volume induced by temperature variations, etc. In addition, prior art methods of protecting substrates generally are not capable of adequately protecting a variety of different-sized substrates using a single apparatus.